This illustration, by the French artist Pierre Paul Prud’hon (c. 1758–1823), was initially intended for a collection of plays by Jean Racine (c. 1639-1699)....
Emperor Constantine V was the son of Emperor Leo III of Constantinople (r. 717-741), a ruler who brought much-needed stability to the Byzantine Empire...
This illustration, by the French artist Pierre Paul Prud’hon (c. 1758–1823), was initially intended for a collection of plays by Jean Racine (c. 1639-1699)....
(Portrait of Charlemagne by Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528), via Creative Commons)
Charlemagne (r. 768-814) can often be viewed as a bright, radiant light in the...
Emperor Tiberius (r. 14-37)
"Rulers die; the country lives for ever."
A quote attributed to Tiberius in The Annals of Imperial Rome (Book III, Chapter...
Anna Komnene (c. 1083-1153)
"Such is every barbarian - constantly lusting after massacre and war."
The Alexiad (Book IX, section 3) by Anna Komnene, translated by...
In early 11th-century Norway, a chieftain named Thórir the Hound reigned supreme in the northernmost stretches, known as Halogaland, of the Norwegian countryside. On...
